Sauli Väinämö Niinistö (born 24 August 1948) is a Finnish politician of the National Coalition Party. He is the current president-elect of Finland, and will assume office on March 1, 2012. A lawyer by training, he was Minister of Finance from 1996 to 2003 and the National Coalition Party candidate in the 2006 presidential election. He served as the Speaker of the Parliament of Finland from 2007 to 2011 and has been the Honorary President of the European People's Party (EPP) since 2002. He is also President of the Football Association of Finland.
